Eskom and Denel announcements show true state of SOE’s
25 September 2015
Today’s announcement that Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown, has appointed the politically useful Brian Molefe as Eskom’s permanent CEO is another unfortunate move to reward ANC loyalty ahead of actual ability.
Molefe is an ANC cadre that has been passed around a number of State-Owned Entities (SOEs), including Transnet, Telkom, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), and his appointment as Eskom CEO is based on loyalty as opposed to ability and performance.
The DA has consistently called for a permanent CEO to lead Eskom and our country out of these dark times – however that CEO required both political neutrality and vast energy sector expertise and experience. Sadly, Molefe ticks neither of these boxes.
The fact is Molefe offers nothing to Eskom besides being well connected to the ruling party.
Under Molefe we have seen nothing but empty promises. He promised a winter without load-shedding, yet load-shedding persisted throughout winter. He promised to ramp up the construction at Medupi and Kusile, but could only announce further delays of up to two years at each power plant. Under his watch we have also seen the politically-connected Gupta family being awarded a coal deal to the value of R4 billion despite having their application rejected four times since 2011, due to their poor standard of coal.
Molefe is joined by new permanent Board Chairperson, Ben Ngubane, the former SABC Chairperson who infamously overturned the decision to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng as COO of SABC.
Until the ANC realises that SOE’s are not dumping grounds for cadres to be given fat pay checks, we will continue to see the downward spiral of such entities. Eskom, SAA, SAPO and PetroSA are just some examples of what is to come.
In addition to Molefe’s appointment, reports today suggest that another SOE, Denel, has placed its CEO Riaz Saloojee, CFO Fikile Mhlontlo and Secretary Elizabeth Africa on special leave pending an investigation into various matters at the entity.
It is now incumbent on Minister Brown to appear before Parliament to explain why Molefe was appointed ahead of a politically neutral and technically experienced candidate, as well as the reason for the suspension and investigation into the three senior Denel personnel.
I will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, and request that Minister Brown appears at the next available opportunity to answer to Parliament on these matters.
With our SOE’s in basic survival mode, Minister Brown does not have the luxury of making announcements via media statements on Friday afternoons. Rather, she ought to come before Parliament and adequately give reasons for the decisions taken for which she is politically responsible.
Statement issued by Natasha Mazzone MP, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 25 September 2015
